We all end up buying lots of books in December to gift and as a part of Secret Santa. And yet, we can’t resist the deal alerts for ourselves in January! Here are some of the books our kbc members grabbed in the first 2 months of the year!
Can I Be Your Dog? The New York Times Bestselling picture book Asha gifted this one to herself for her b’day (amongst many other books!). Sequel to this book I Found a Kitty! by Troy Cummings (the author of the NOTEBOOK OF DOOM Branches series by Scholastic.
Cat Problems by Jory John and Lane Smith for 3-7 years (48 pages). This series is called ANIMAL PROBLEMS and has other funny books! {Asha grabbed Cat Problems as she adores cat books!)
Lionel The Lonely Monster by Fred Blunt (the author of Grandmas from Mars, Santa Claus vs. The Easter Bunny and many more super funny books!
The Cat is Not a Dog, The Dog is Not a Cat by Daffodil Lane Books (a flip book) for 4 years+ (asha was gifted this one on her b’day!)
This Book Is Out Of Control by Richard Byrne for 2-5 years (32 pages). Other books in this hilarious series:
We’re In The Wrong Book! , This Book Just Ate My Dog!. The author written many other books.
Roar! lift the flap board book for 2+ years (12 pages)
The Littlest Elephant: A Funny Jungle Story About Kindness by Kate Read for 3-6 years (32 pages)
Mama’s Sleeping Scarf: by award-winning Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Pooja has this one, quoting her:
This beautiful family story is about a young girl called Chino as she plays with her mama’s sleeping scarf throughout the day when mama goes away for work. Mama wears a sleeping scarf at night to keep her hair nice and soft – typical curly hair hacks!
The scarf is green in colour with red and blue circles. Running with the scarf, pretend-play as her bunny’s blanket, conversations about her scarf with bunny, daddy, and grandparents, wearing it just like mama and then finally eating her greens and veggies as they have similar colour as her mama’s scarf. The author has weaved the story beautifully that make everyday home moments into a beautiful celebration. The mother-daughter relationship highlighted is infectious. The illustrations are top class and the book touch & feel is beyond par.
Just Like You! by Jane Chapman for 3-6 years (32 pages). Prabha highly recommends this one: “Piccolo, a baby mammoth, lives with Mama and Pops in their herd. Piccolo is eager to grow up. “I don’t want to be little, I want to be big and strong like you!” One day, Pops takes Piccolo with him on a special adventure. Could Piccolo already be more like Pops and Mama than she realizes?”
Supermarket Zoo by Caryl Hart. Prabha and Ethan have done a read aloud in the fb group here. All of Caryl Hart’s books are a huge hit with our childoos.
Negative Cat by Sophie Blackall (author of Caldecott Medal book HELLO LIGHTHOUSE) for 4-8 years
The Kindest Red: A Story of Hijab and Friendship (The Proudest Blue) for 4-8 years (40 pages).
A series on the Indian Armed Forces by Arthy Muthanna Singh and Mamta Nainy for 7 years+ (40 pages). Mrittika has done a read aloud of one in the fb group here.
My Father is in the Indian Army
My Mother Is in the Indian Air Force
My Sister is in the Indian Navy
A Dragon With His Mouth On Fire: Teach Your Dragon To Not Interrupt. A Cute Children Story To Teach Kids Not To Interrupt or Talk Over People (50 pages). There are other books in this MY DRAGON BOOKS series by Steve Herman.
BLANK COMIC BOOKS FOR KIDS by Tony Reed (100+ pages) – these have blank pages with various templates inside so kids can make their own comics!
THE KIDS’ BOOK OF AWESOME RIDDLES for 6-9 years. Achira has this one and says it’s super funny!
NON FICTION
A Street Through Time: A 12,000 Year Journey Along the Same Street (DK Panorama) 32 PAGES – Achu has shared a wonderful inside page here in the fb group. In her words:
“This award winning book illustrated by Steve Noon tells the story of the same street evolving through different times starting from 10000 BCE to the present day street. This super cool edition even takes us to the Street of the Future.”
The Super Book of Science (72 pages)
SIR: The Titanic: Lost and Found: Lost…and Found : A Step 3 Book/Grades 2-3 (Step into Reading)
Titanic: The Story Lives On! (Penguin Young Readers, Level 4) for 7-9 years (48 pages)
National Geographic Kids Readers: Titanic (National Geographic Kids Readers: Level 3)
TITANIC [Usborne Young Reading]
What Was the Titanic? for 8-12 years (112 pages)
I Survived: The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 for 8-12 years (112 pages)
Who Is David Beckham? (Who Was?)
Who Is Michael Jordan? (Who Was?)
There is an entire WHO WAS SERIES (112 pages) as well as WHAT WAS SERIES , WHAT IS SERIES, WHERE IS SERIES that are really interesting and many books across these series get ordered often. Best part, they are very affordable and are enjoyed by 8 years onwards, even grown ups!
Who was Gandhi?
Who was Steve Jobs?
Who is Bill Gates?
Who was Mother Teresa?
Who was Maya Angelou?
Who was Walt Disney?
Who was Stephen Hawking?
Who was Albert Einstein?
Who was Issac Newton?
Who was Martin Luther King Jr?
Who was Leonardo da Vinci?
What is NASA?
What is LEGO?
What was Pearl Harbour?
What was the Berlin Wall?
What was the Holocaust?
Where is the Taj Mahal?
Where are the Great Pyramids?
Where is the Bermuda Triangle?
CHAPTER BOOKS
Journey to the Moon #1 (Astronaut Girl) for 6-8 years (96 pages). There are other books in this Astronaut Girl series.
The Good, the Bad and the Sheriff’s Horse: a choose the page StoryQuest adventure: 2 (114 pages)
Frindle by Andrew Clements (114 pages). Andrew Clements is known for his books on issues middle graders face in school (8-12 years). There is a boxset of 10 books called ANDREW CLEMENTS SCHOOL STORIES BOX SET which works out to be economical. The included titles are Frindle, The Landry News, The Janitor’s Boy, The School Story, A Week in the Woods, Lunch Money, Room One, No Talking, Lost and Found, and Extra Credit. Report Card is another book in the series.
Fly Away by award winning author, Patricia MacLachlan for 7 years+ (128 pages). The author writes on difficult topics for tweens like “being brave and saving the family from losing everything”, finding yourself, love and loss. Mona has shared a review in the fb group. In her words:
“It was a book suggestion for my daughter, over a #kbcQuery. I wanted to encourage her to speak up at home.
This is a gripping story featuring a girl who ‘can’ but isn’t brave enough.
Aunt Frankie has arrived to help the family prepare well and stay safe in flooding season. Lucy’s toddler brother, Teddy, walks in sleep. These siblings have a sweet secret bedtime routine and this is one of many other things that Lucy is hiding from her family. One rainy night when Teddy sleepwalks towards an old dam, Lucy has to find courage to SING.
I am sure, many of us can relate to the feeling of choking and croaking. The possibility of audience poking fun of our imperfections starts haunting us and we give up even before trying. The irony is, Lucy can’t even sing in front of her family members.
It is a must read for anyone struggling with public speaking.”
Murray the Viking for 7 years+ (192 pages). Tanvi has this and has shared a mini review with inside pages here in the fb group. Quoting her:
A magician named Fumblethumb has a cat named Murray. When Murray is about to eat a bun, Fumblethumb accidentally turns the bun into a rabbit called Bun! Now Murray and Bun go on an adventure. The book contains all the funny anecdotes of their adventure together! Aashvi has already read this book three times since it arrived. She loves going on an adventure with Murray and Bun.
The book has a few lines of text along with illustrations on each page. If your child likes funny books and enjoys laughing while reading she/he will enjoy this one.
Unicorn Expedition by Ray Satyajit for 8-12 years. Vandana’s Kaavya is enjoying this series.
The Kites Are Flying! by Michael Morpurgo for 9-11 years (128 pages)
Nick and Tecla’s High-Voltage Danger Lab: A Mystery with Electromagnets, Burglar Alarms and Other Gadgets You Can Build Yourself (240 pages). Amardeep gave this to Achira’s Divit for Secret Santa!
This Nick and Tesla series is for 9-12 years.
Babysitter’s Club for 8-12 years
SHERLOCK HOLMES by Fingerprint! Publishing
How To Say No by Michelle Elman for 10-14 years
YA/TEEN BOOKS
Jerry Spinelli, an award winning author, has written many books on difficult topics (not fitting in, feeling invisible, discovering yourself, celebrating your individuality, first love, etc) for teens. LOSER has been highly recommended by kbc member and author Mandira Shah. Stargirl is a series of three books. Dead Wednesday gets mentioned often.
[Note from Team Kids Book Café: For your convenience, affiliate links (MARKED IN PINK) to some of the book titles & images have been added to enable you to buy the books from AMAZON, should you wish to! A very small amount of money comes to kidsbookcafe.com when you purchase a book via the amazon affiliate link provided (at absolutely no extra cost to you!). Do let us know if you need information about other children’s books by writing to asha@kidsbookcafe.com.]
